Number of city dwellers lacking safe water to double by 2050
GuardianMAR 16 2023
With the number of people facing water scarcity growing each year, the world is staring down a deadly crisis. The demand for water is skyrocketing and not just in rural communities but in cities and urban areas as well. Governments will have to start leveraging international coordination, flood and pollution control, and begin to share data and technology to increase efficiency as the demand continues to grow.
Even though the demand for water is increasing, the bigger underlying threat is climate change. As the climate changes it will increase the risk of drought but some areas will see an increase in floods. Flood waters and runoff carry sediment, fertilizers, and other pollutants that clog waterways and lead to rare and unnatural events like significant algae blooms that render water useless for drinking, cooling off, and irrigation. Every individual has a role to play in tackling climate change as a root cause of the water crisis.